Recipe: Candy Castle Birthday Cake by The Charles’s Rhiann Mead

This story appears in our July 2025 Nostalgia issue, presented by Up, where we asked 13 professional bakers to recreate cakes from the iconic The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book.

For building and assembling the Candy Castle, I followed the same instructions as the OG recipe. I think store-bought waffle cones and liquorice allsorts can’t be replaced, so I used those. The changes I made to personalise the cake were to make all the candy and chocolates myself. I grew up with the biggest sweet tooth, so being able to make my own candy is one of the fun things about being a pastry chef.

You could easily use a cake mix packet, but I used a recipe passed to me by an old chef that we call “magic cake” (see below). It’s so easy to make and stays so moist, which is perfect because usually these cakes are made in advance.

I used an egg yolk butter cream – it’s so rich, silky smooth and not too sweet. I also used a flat piping nozzle to pipe the buttercream as a cheat. This meant I didn’t have to worry about getting the base layer smooth before drawing in the bricks on top.

With all the jellies, marshmallows and chocolates you can use any moulds, cutters or even use a knife to create shapes. There’s no set rule – just make it fun!

You can also use any fruit juice or puree to flavour the sweets.

Chocolate sponge cake ingredients

420g flour
700g sugar
130g cocoa powder
3 tsp baking powder
3 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 whole eggs
225g neutral oil
470g milk
470ml boiling water

Chocolate sponge cake method

Preheat oven to 160°C.

Sieve all dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, oil and milk.

Add wet to dry, then add the boiling water last.

Bake for about half an hour.

Egg yolk buttercream ingredients

120g egg yolk (usually about 6–7 large eggs, separated)
200g sugar
60ml water
450g butter

Egg yolk buttercream method

Whisk yolk on high until light and fluffy.

Meanwhile, heat sugar and water to 118°C. Slowly pour over yolk.

Whisk until cool, then add butter.

Pate de fruit ingredients

250g fruit juice or puree
240g sugar
6g yellow pectin (available at specialty baking stores)
75g glucose

Pate de fruit method

Boil the puree or juice. Add 20g sugar and pectin and return to the boil.

Next add 220g sugar and glucose. Cook to 107°C.

Pour into moulds. Allow to cool. Roll in sugar.

Marshmallow ingredients

5 sheets gold leaf gelatine (available at specialty baking stores)
90g fruit juice or puree
225g sugar
30g egg white (approx 1 large egg, separated)

Marshmallow ingredients

Soak gelatine in ice-cold water. Dissolve into the fruit juice.

Meanwhile, bring sugar to 118°C before adding to the fruit mix.

Separately, start whisking egg whites, then slowly pour mix onto eggs.

Whisk until cool.

Once cool, spread onto a flat tray or into any moulds.

Lollipop sugar ingredients

500g sugar
200ml water
250g glucose
Liquid food colouring
Toothpicks

Lollipop sugar method

Mix all and cook to 160°C.

Swirl in water-based colours, and either set in moulds or spoon onto a tray lined with
greaseproof paper. Use toothpicks for sticks. Allow to set and store in an airtight
container.

Chocolate

For the freckles, temper milk chocolate and spoon or pipe them onto a tray with greaseproof paper and cover in sprinkles.

For the chocolate buttons, temper white chocolate, add in oil-based colours and set them in a mould. You could also spoon or pipe little discs onto a tray covered with greaseproof paper.

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The ghost cake recipe first appeared in the The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book, published in 1980.